Magnetic disc device with stopper on carriage to limit rotational movement of support spring

Abstract

A head positioning mechanism for a magnetic disc device includes a support spring having one end portion that supports a magnetic head, and the other end portion at which a rotating shaft is disposed. A carriage has one end portion that pivotally supports the rotating shaft of the support spring, and another end portion that is connected to a rotary actuator, to position the magnetic head to a predetermined position on the magnetic disc in cooperation with the carriage and the support spring. A stopper is provided on the carriage, and restricts a rotatable range of the support spring on the carriage. A positioning control at a head precision seek is facilitated as a result.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A head positioning mechanism for a magnetic disc device, comprising: a support spring having one end portion that supports a magnetic head and the other end portion at which a rotating shaft is disposed;   a carriage having one end portion that pivotally supports the rotating shaft of the support spring and the other end portion which is connected to a rotary actuator, to position the magnetic head to a predetermined position on the magnetic disc device in cooperation with the carriage and the support spring, the carriage having a top surface and a bottom surface; and   a stopper extending downwardly from the bottom surface of the carriage, the stopper configured to restrict a rotatable range of the support spring.   
     
     
       2. A head positioning mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support spring is rotated in one direction via the rotating shaft so that an outer edge of the support spring abuts against the stopper so as to disable further rotation in the one direction before a track access operation of the magnetic disc device is conducted. 
     
     
       3. A head positioning mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when a track moving operation is conducted, the support spring is first rotated in a first direction to be directed a track side to which the magnetic head is to be moved so that the support spring abuts against the stopper which stops any further rotation of the support spring in the first direction, and with the support spring abutted against the stopper, after the magnetic head is positioned to the track to which the magnetic head is to be moved, the magnetic head is directed along a track direction in cooperation with the support spring and the carriage so as to read data from the magnetic disc device. 
     
     
       4. A head positioning mechanism as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a magnet disposed on the carriage adjacent to the stopper, wherein the magnet has an arcuate shape.   
     
     
       5. A head positioning mechanism as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a second stopper provided on the carriage, the stopper configured to restrict a rotatable range of the support spring to a first position, the second stopper configured to restrict the rotatable range of the support spring to a second position; and   a pair of support arms provided on the support spring and configured to respectively abut against a corresponding one of the stopper and the second stopper so as to restrict the rotatable range of the support spring.   
     
     
       6. A head positioning mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stopper extends downwardly in a plane perpendicular with respect to a plane the corresponds to the bottom surface of the carriage. 
     
     
       7. A method of positioning a magnetic head for reading information on a magnetic disc device, the magnetic head including a support spring attached to and being in contact with at least a portion of a bottom surface of a carriage, the method comprising the steps of: a) restricting a rotatable position of the support spring to a first rotational position and a second rotational position by use of a first stopper and a second stopper that extend from the bottom surface of the carriage to be disposed at opposite sides with respect to the stopper, the first rotational position corresponding to the support spring pointing away from a track direction for reading information on the magnetic disc device, the second rotational position corresponding to the support spring pointing towards the track direction on the magnetic disc device;   b) rotating the support spring so that the support spring is positioned between the first stopper and the second stopper, so as to read information on a particular track of the magnetic disc device;   c) performing a track moving operation from the particular track to a next track by performing the following substeps: c1) rotating the support spring so that the support spring abuts against the first stopper, so that the support spring is pointed in a direction as close as possible towards the next track;   c2) moving the carriage to the next track while maintaining the support spring abutted against the first stopper; and   c3) reading information from the next track.     
     
     
       8. A head positioning method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the step of: d) rotating the support spring to a position between the first and second stoppers, inclusive, to read the information from the next track,   wherein the rotating in the step d) is performed to position the support spring in a substantially central position in the next track.   
     
     
       9. A method of positioning a magnetic head for reading information on a magnetic disc device, the magnetic head including a support spring attached to a carriage, the support spring having one end portion that supports a magnetic head for reading the information on the magnetic disc device, the method comprising the steps of: a) rotating the carriage in preparation to read at least one particular track on the magnetic disc device;   b) positioning the support spring between two stoppers that extend downwardly with respect to a bottom surface of the carriage to read the at least one particular track the support spring being in contact with at least a portion of the bottom surface of the carriage;   c) after reading the at least one particular track, determining where a next track to be read is located with respect to the at least one particular track that has been read;   d) moving the support spring to abut against one of the two stoppers that is closest to the next track; and   e) rotating the carriage to the next track.   
     
     
       10. A head positioning method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the support spring is maintained abutted against the one of the two stoppers while the carriage is rotated in the step e). 
     
     
       11. A head positioning method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the support spring is moved while the carriage is not rotated during the step d). 
     
     
       12. A head positioning method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the support spring has a second end portion that is rotatably connected to the carriage. 
     
     
       13. A head positioning method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the support spring is rotated about the carriage due to the rotatable connection of the support spring to the carriage during the step d). 
     
     
       14. A head positioning method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the step a) corresponds to a coarse positioning step, and wherein the step b) corresponds to a fine positioning step.